For a long time the NBA searched for another Michael Jordan, and never found one. Kobe Bryant spent long stretches of his memorable career performing as a sort of top-shelf Michael tribute band — he was said to have watched and imitated Jordan interviews early on — but he was not the same. Beyond everything else, he wasn’t as good. He could play the song, but he could never quite inhabit it.Kevin Durant, though: sometimes, maybe. He is not as predatory a personality; he is a flighty, sensitive soul who reads about himself on the internet, and was clearly fine with going to a team with another MVP whose primacy he couldn’t always surmount. But earlier in these playoffs Durant ripped off 38 points, then 33, 45, 50, and finally 35 in Game 1 against Houston in the second round, adding rebounding and passing and defence, and Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr was asked if it reminded him of anybody.“There’s this guy named Michael something,” said Kerr, who won three titles with Jordan’s Bulls. “Can’t remember his last name.”Of course, the seven-foot spire has been spectral in this series. He strained his right calf on May 8, and was just cleared to practise on Sunday, with the Toronto Raptors leading the NBA Finals three games to one, with a championship on the line in Game 5 on Monday night. Was it panic? Public relations? A natural timeline? A last-chance hope?Whatever it was, Durant was listed as questionable for Game 5. But even if Durant had not come off the closed practice court relatively quickly and then walked to the Golden State bus with an ice pack strapped to his right lower calf — and, perhaps not inconsequentially, his Achilles tendon — the Raptors were unworried. Because they have the other best Michael Jordan comparison on their team. They have Kawhi.Read more: Warriors keep their heads up, even while they’re down 3-1 in NBA Finals Get ready for Raptormania: Street ...
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